The September, 2024 Reading List

 

Today is the last day of the month, so the list of books read this month is called for. September is a relatively short month, but I still managed seven books - that's about average for me.

You might say the September list was inspired by Japanese writer, Akimitsu Takagi. Four of the seven listed were written by Takagi; two of the seven were mystery novels by other writers, but were books mentioned by Takagi in one of his novels. Only one book, The Lady of the Barge & Other stories by W.W. Jacobs, is in no way related to Takagi.

I've written blog posts on four of the books on the list - The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi, The Three Coffins (AKA The Hollow Man) by John Dickson Carr, The Noh Mask Murder and The Informer, both written by Akimitsu Takagi.

I wanted to read S.S.Van Dine's The Greene Murder Case because it was mentioned favorably in The Noh Mask Murder. This, in spite of my having read another in Van Dine's Philo Vance series and not being impressed. The Greene Murder Case turned out to be better than I had expected.

Takagi's The Informer was top notch. Like all of Takagi's work, I highly recommend it.

The outlier in this month's list is W. W. Jacobs' The Lady of the Barge & Other stories. This book is a collection of short stories by the English writer. The most famous story in the collection is The Monkey's Paw, which was adapted into film in 1915, 1923, 1933, 1948, 2008 and 2013. My interest in reading the collection came from Commentary Magazine's John Podhoretz mentioning The Monkey's Paw on the magazine's podcast, in reference to the idea that wishing for something you shouldn't wish for can lead to tragic consequences.

Some of Jacobs' stories are humorous, while others are meant to be "horror" stories. The horror stories aren't really frightening by today's standards, but the book is, by and large, entertaining.

So now, the list:

The Tattoo Murder Case   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Hollow Man (The 3 Coffins)  by John Dickson Carr
The Noh Mask Murder   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Informer    by Akimitsu Takagi
Honeymoon to Nowhere   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Greene Murder Case   by S.S. Van Dine
The Lady of the Barge & Other stories   by W. W. Jacobs

The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi

In my blog post on The Tattoo Murder Case by Takagi Akimitsu , I mentioned that "I found this novel surrounding the tattoo subculture in Japan one of the best mysteries I've read this year." I've read two mysteries novels since making that statement, and while I still believe it remains "one of the best", Akimitsu Takagi's second novel, The Noh Mask Murder is even better.

Like The Tattoo Murder Case and John Dickson Carr's The Three Coffins, The Noh Mask Murder is a "locked room mystery" and like Carr's book, the story has three coffins. When it comes to "locked room mysteries", Takagi learned his lesson well.

I thought I had the story figured out. I was certain I knew the identity of the killer, only to be fooled and fooled yet again.

Four of Akimitsu Takagi's mystery novels have been translated into English. I'm about to start The Informer and then on to Honeymoon to Nowhere. It's unfortunate for me that there aren't more of his books in English. 

As an aside, one of the characters in the book is considered the "Japanese Philo Vance".  The Greene Murder Case is mentioned - there's even a chapter in The Noh Mask Murder with that title. I may get around to reading the S. S. Van Dine novel, although not until I've finished with Takagi.